In every installment of I Love Ya But You’re Strange I spotlight strange but ultimately endearing comic stories. Feel free to e-mail me at brianc@cbr.com if you have a suggestion for a future installment!

When DC Comics Presents launched in late 1978, it was the first time that Superman had gained a new ongoing series in…something like almost forty years (since World’s Finest Comics, which was in the early 1940s). In any event, in the first issue, there was a contest where fans could suggest the name of the letter column for the series and the winner would appear in the comic book.

Marc Teichman, from Staten Island, and Superman then flew around and took photographs all day.

When he got back to the Daily Planet, though, and began developing the film, Marc made a shocking discovery that he passed along to Superman!

As it turned out, the blue jay had been sent to warn Superman by Hawkman (the bad guy controlled Hawkman’s actions, but not his mind or, as it turned out, his ability to speak to birds). So paired with what he learned from Marc, Superman was able to avoid getting punched by Hawkman’s “polaris punch,” which was designed by an evil scientist that would have resulted in Superman and Hawkman exploding if they had ACTUALLY made hard contact with each other (the villain charged Hawkman with a special radiation – it was the after-effect of that radiation left over on Superman from an earlier fight with Hawkman that led to the strange effect in the photograph).

What a delightfully weird team-up.

Congratulations, Marc!

If anyone has a suggestion for another bizarrely awesome comic book for this column, feel free to e-mail me at brianc@cbr.com! I love hearing from you all!